NOT EVERY CUSTOMER IS WORTH KEEPING

Salespeople, often referred to as “Hunters,” invest significant time and resources into acquiring new customers. From chasing leads to organizing meetings, conducting product demos, and developing custom proposals, the sales process can stretch over weeks, if not months. But once the ink is dry, an important question arises: Was it all worth it?

While the answer may seem obvious, it’s not always a resounding yes.

Acquiring a new customer isn’t just a job well done—it’s a costly investment. Between time, travel, presentations, and promotions, the cost of acquisition can reach staggering levels. Smart salespeople must assess these costs early in the game to determine if a lead is worth the chase. This means weighing:

• Time investment

• Marketing and promotional spend

• Operational overhead

• Likelihood of success

If a lead constantly reschedules meetings, asks for repeated presentations, or shows signs of indecision, it may be smarter to walk away. The same goes for leads loyal to competitors who are simply “shopping around” to put pressure on their current provider. Pursuing those can result in either a lost deal or an unprofitable customer.

Let’s say a lead converts into a customer. Great! But what did it cost you?

Imagine the total cost of acquisition—factoring failed pursuits of other leads—is JD2,000. That’s JD2,000 the business needs to recover before it turns a profit. The next step? Finance must kick in with detailed profit and loss statements, not only by product or service line, but also by customer.

Only then can sales leadership determine which customers are truly worth the effort. The numbers will show who deserves your attention—and who needs to be shown the door.

Poorly performing customers don’t just fail to yield profit. They drain resources that could otherwise go to higher-value clients. Staff time, service hours, delivery schedules—all of it could be better spent. That’s why every company must adopt a customer assessment strategy.

And here’s where your “Farmers” come in: they’re the ones nurturing relationships, upselling, cross-selling, and extending customer lifetime value. With their help, you can turn a moderately profitable customer into a highly lucrative one—if that customer is worth keeping.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. But smart businesses will adopt a mix of strategies to make their customer base more profitable:

• Lower acquisition costs through scalable marketing

• Prolong customer lifetime with better service and relationships

• Cross-sell and upsell to increase revenue per account

• And yes, drop the deadweight

Because in the end, not every lead deserves your time. And not every customer belongs on your books.